The Telangana Prohibition and Excise (P&E) department’s mobile app Telangana Liquor Price was launched on February 10, facilitating consumers to lodge complaints online about liquor Maximum Retail Price (MRP) violations.
From February 11 to March 16, the P&E officials received 1,651 complaints from different parts of the State about liquor being sold at higher rates but those were not backed by evidence. “We couldn’t find sufficient evidence to nail wine shop owners accused of selling liquor at a higher price, as mentioned in most of the complaints. Only in 27 complaints, MRP violations were confirmed,” P&E Director Akun Sabharwal said on Friday.
As per the law, these 27 wine shops were forced to close for a week. Each shop was imposed a fine amount of ₹2 lakh as well. The authorities went to the shops against which complaints were made and ascertained the facts, Mr. Sabharwal said.
But the crucial question is why so many ‘false’ complaints were being raised.
Telangana Wine Shop Owners Association representatives brought to fore an interesting angle. Two months ago, when the government hiked liquor prices, the wine shop owners were asked to sell liquor as per the new prices with immediate effect. The stocks already available in the wine shops had to be sold at old prices because they were purchased from the government at old prices. The stocks freshly purchased from the time prices were hiked had to be sold at enhanced prices.
But there was a glitch. The stocks of liquor available in government godowns had labels of old prices. “We had to sell these liquor bottles with old price labels as per the increased prices. Customers naturally began to think we were selling liquor for prices higher than the MRP printed on the label,” the association representatives said.
The officers, who visited the wine shops following the complaints of MRP violations, couldn’t find any evidence to initiate penal action, they maintained.
Mr. Sabharwal agreed that new price labels could not be affixed to the old stocks of liquor. “However, we cannot attribute all false complaints solely to this. A detailed analysis has to be done ,” he said.
